Guru and Disciple

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

Page 71

The Guru and the Disciple
129
130
The Guru and the Disciple
is there to take from a shop, that is pure (without ulterior motives) but has nothing in it? A pure person has nothing in his shop. In a deceptive shop, they will give you goods but they will cheat you in the process, they will give you adulterated goods.
It is a different matter if the guru has no need for anything, where he does not need any money, he does not need to grow his ashram or his following; such people are acceptable. People will benefit there even if you call it a shop. It is fine if you do not get any gnan (knowledge) there as long as he is pure. Nobody will gain anything where there is impurity.
There is no need for an ashram Questioner: In the Hindu and the Jain society there is the custom ofashram (spiritual community). Is this appropriate?
Dadashri: That system was fine in the Satyug (era of the time cycle characterized by oneness in thoughts, speech and acts), in the third and fourth Ara (era). It is not appropriate in the fifth Ara (the current time cycle of Kaliyug).
Questioner: Does the system of ashrams lead to divisions and sects?
Dadashri: The system of ashram is a vehicle for creating divisions and sects. Creators of these divisions are egotistic and over wise. They create something new, something other than what should be. There is no intention of going to moksha. They just want to show their over-wise-ness. They continue to create new divisions and then, when a Gnani arises, He unites them, stops all the divisiveness. A hundred thousand Gnanis will have just one opinion and one agnani (the one who is not Self-realized), has a hundred thousand opinions.
Questioner: They call it an 'ashram (a place for resting), but one has to make efforts there.
Dadashri: No, no. I will tell you how people have made
use of ashrams in India. When a person gets tired at home, he will go and live there and eat and drink happily. That is how they use the ashrams. Therefore, anyone who wants to reduce his shram (mental and physical fatigue) and wants to eat, drink and sleep: can have ashram (free from fatigue). There, in the ashrams, he will not have a wife or anyone to bother him. At home, his children quarrel. In the ashram, there is no wife or children to bother him. There is solitude there and so a person can enjoy the nice cool breeze and snore away without any bedbugs to bother him. The exhaustion of the worldly life is reduced there.
Now it is good if one eats, drinks and sleeps. But he (the guru) misuses it and therefore, binds a birth in the lower life form. He harms no one but himself only. There may be one or two good gurus, but generally, the ashrams are tools for exploitation.
Questioner: Is there a need for ashrams and temples in the path you are showing?
Dadashri: Here there is no ashram or any such thing. Can there be any ashrams here? From the very beginning, I have opposedashrams. What have I been saying from the beginning? I have said that I do not need any ashrams. People had approached me to build an ashram but I told them no. What do I need an ashram for? I do not need any ashram.
So I have said from the beginning that the one who is a Gnani does not make the effort to construct an ashram. I will do satsang even under a tree, if there is no place else to do it. I do not have any objections. Everything is dependant upon unfolding karma. Even Lord Mahavir used to do satsang sitting under a tree; he did not go looking for any ashrams. I do not need even a little room or anything like that. I do not have a need for anything
Questioner: The words 'Apratibaddha vihari' (unbound by anything) have been used for a Gnani.
Dadashri: Yes, I am a Gnani who moves about unrestricted